Title: ASL Aftermath: Moral Support
Feat: Asgore, Frisk, Dr. Gaster, Sans, Papyrus
Rating: K
Word Count: 4,196
Some time has passed, and I wake up from what I can only assume was a few minutes of sleep. The day passes slowly.
Sometime after lunch I'm once again visited by King Asgore, who persists in misunderstanding how a jail is supposed to work by asking me if I wanted to come up again today. Although it feels almost silly to imprison yourself if your own jailer isn't going to do it right, so I'll agree to come up. I'm tired, so I don't have the will to ask what he has planned this time.
After all, he has been pulling me out of the basement a lot since my return, and most of them are pretty flimsy reasons. Such as to help him water the plants or have a cup of tea, although on one of these occasions, he asked me to help him attempt to make a butterscotch-cinnamon pie, which was not successful between the two of us. All of them are things which I don't know if I am bothered by or not.
It's clear what he's trying to do, and while I appreciate the effort, I... don't think he entirely understands what he's doing. He has only ever known one side of me, and the other side he's only experienced through hearsay. Nothing I say can dissuade him, however. That's how it's always been; even when he himself did unforgivable acts, he didn't change in that respect. It's remarkable.
Although his majesty is also tricky, in his way. I realize immediately what his reason is this time, when I come to the first floor. He didn't tell me he has company.
Oh god, it's no wonder he didn't. I should have known this was coming, that he was going to attempt something like this. Although he says that they are here "to visit me," so it must be more of that human's doing. That human's far too presumptuous for their own good; I know it has to be their idea, those two would not come here of their own will, at least not Su- Sans at any rate. He has to only be here for his brother's sake.
Yes, much too presumptuous. Although Asgore himself could have given me some kind of warning so I could decline his offer instead of being caught up here like a rat in a trap-
"HI GASTER! YOU LOOK DIFFERENT WHEN YOU'RE NOT WEARING YOUR COAT," Papyrus said first, cutting the awkward silence off at the roots.
It didn't help much that Dr. Gaster was having a harder time replying to even that. "..." As some kind of noise came out of him, Frisk made sure to turn on the Wingding Translator App, which caught him as he finally uttered, "You're still wearing that... costume."
"OH- MY BATTLE BODY! YES! I HAVE TO ALWAYS BE PREPARED!" Papyrus said, rapping a fist on his so-called armor as if to illustrate his point.
Nobody was looking down at anyone's shoes, so no one noticed that Sans had actually put on sneakers today. They were untied, but Frisk had clapped anyway when she saw them. Now that they were actually here, he wasn't venturing to point out the slight change in outfit. Standing beside Frisk, she could feel a sort of energy coming off of him and it was unnerving, when he was normally so chilled out.
Well she hadn't a change in clothes to share, unless anyone was going to care that she wore white under her sweater today, but she did have something to venture while Dr. Gaster only said, "Uh, that's nice."
She cut in, stepping forward, "Oh, I want to show you-" Frisk then pulled her lips apart, looking as at ease as always to a casual observer. "I got a new tooth! The dentist said that it's ten times stronger than my old one." And to somehow demonstrate that point, she licked her tooth with her tongue.
The unspoken words in that sentence were, To replace the one you knocked out. Rigid, Dr. Gaster nodded with a small bob of his head. "That's. ...Nice," he repeated.
"cat got your tongue, wing-dingus?" Sans said, and frowning Frisk nudged him- to which he carelessly nudged her back.
Despite her concern, the jab seemed to give Dr. Gaster something to hold onto instead, whether Sans meant it that way or not. He cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses, one hand smoothing back the tape with which they were affixed to his skull. "I was not expecting your visit."
"I wasn't either." Nearly everyone glanced to the side of the room, as if they had all forgotten Asgore was here until he spoke up. "Although I'm happy for the visit! Actually," he inclined his great head in Frisk's direction. "I did want to speak with you over some political matters, Frisk, if you don't mind."
Dr. Gaster blinked. "Oh, that's right." He stared at Frisk, who stared back. "You are apparently more important than you led me to believe."
"Huh?" The child's smile halted before she looked back at Asgore, understanding. "Oh, not really. I just have a cool job. I don't get paid or anything, though."
Dr. Gaster inclined his head. "You don't?"
"Nope- oh," she cut herself off as Asgore cleared his throat. "I'll tell you about it in a minute."
"WAIT, YOU'RE LEAVING?"
She felt a small pang as Papyrus half-approached her, then stopped himself. Sans, whom she guessed would be irritated with her for a while longer, wasn't looking and was instead slowly eating a ketchup packet. Frisk bunched the edges of her sleeves over her hands. "I'll just be a minute. I'll be right in the other room."
"UH, WELL, OKAY! BE GOOD FOR HIS MAJESTY!"
"I will." The child nodded over at Dr. Gaster, too, who was glaring at the seemingly oblivious Asgore. "See you."
"—Yes."
It was just in the other room, but Frisk didn't know if she was really going to be right back to see the skeletons all talk to each other. There was a still-hot pot of golden flower tea sitting on the stove, and Asgore gestured to the child to sit as he poured it into two large round cups.
From where they left them, Dr. Gaster had started speaking again and was being spoken to. The phone no longer picked up what he said, though, making it impossible for her to know if he was trying to make conversation or making death threats or just choking out "that's nice" over and over. She frowned and closed her phone for now.
Asgore set the cup of tea in front of her, sitting down on the opposite side of the table. "The walls are too thick in this castle."
"You didn't actually need to talk to me about anything, did you?" Frisk asked, twisting around in her seat. Right now she could understand only Papyrus and some snatches of Sans' naturally low voice. Asgore, while he sipped his tea, also had ears that twitched like they were listening.
But his words drew her back around, softer so as not to be heard, "No, no, I do, but... er. I confess, I can't help but be a bit worried. This is the first time they've been alone together since he came back, isn't that right?"
Frisk poked, and then took a sip of, her tea. "Yeah, it's true. The last time was when we were in Mt. Ebott. I hope they're doing okay."
Gaster, for his part, was from the moment that they left silently cursing the king for all of this. Sans and Papyrus were watching his movements. Sans seemed to be enjoying his discomfort, his smirk faint but nonetheless directed at him. It was rather like being stalked by two dogs, although as soon as that thought showed up in his head he threw it away.
He wanted to ask them things.
He also didn't want to ask them things.
He wanted to say something.
But he didn't say anything.
Papyrus was the one who ventured further. "OH! SO- YOU LIVE IN THE BASEMENT NOW?"
At that, he nodded. And when nodding didn't seem enough, he said, "Yes. Until further notice." Both of them clearly understood him, so he didn't sign it. "It's an arrangement I have with His Majesty."
"SO ARE YOU WORKING WITH KING ASGORE, THEN?"
"Not exactly..."
"WELL," Papyrus tilted his head and tapped his jaw in thought, "IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE ROOMMATES, IT SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA TO ME, ESPECIALLY SINCE I DON'T THINK THE BASEMENT IS VERY WELL FURNISHED AND IT'S ALWAYS GOOD TO EARN MONEY THROUGH A STABLE POSITION (UNLIKE SANS WHO HAS LIKE TWENTY WEIRD JOBS.) AND AFTER ALL, IF YOU WERE THE ROYAL SCIENTIST BEFORE IT'D BE EASY TO-"
It was babbling. Nervous babbling. "Papy-"
"OH!" His eyes bugged for a moment and then he scratched the back of his head, "I FORGOT ALPHYS IS ALREADY IN THAT POSITION! WAIT, CAN THERE BE TWO ROYAL SCIENTISTS?"
"I'm not going to be the royal scientist anymore."
That startled the other skeleton. "HEH-NYEH? WHY NOT? WELLL... I CAN SEE WHY NOT? BUT I'M SURE THAT THERE'S OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO! BECAUSE ALSO I WOULDN'T THINK THE BASEMENT OF THE CASTLE IS THAT COMFORTABLE..."
Oh god. "Papyrus, I don-"
"IF YOU WANT, I CAN HELP YOU PICK OUT THINGS! I'M VERY GOOD AT INTERIOR DESIGN! I HELPED SANS WHEN WE MOVED INTO THAT HOUSE IN SNOWDIN."
Oh god, oh god. "That's not necessary."
Even as Gaster was emphatically saying as much, Papyrus wouldn't stop, his voice only cracking once while he continued, "I DON'T KNOW, KING ASGORE ISN'T THE BEST AT IT... NO OFFENSE TO HIM, OF COURSE! HE'S VERY NICE! BUT THIS PLACE IS KIND OF GREY AND DEPRESSING," and a quick look around was enough to illustrate that, with everything so monochrome in the room, flowers aside. Papyrus shrugged, "IN FACT IF IT WAS DARKER IT WOULD LOOK KIND OF LIKE BACK IN THE LAB, SO SERIOUSLY IF YOU NEED ANY HEL-"
"Be quiet 2-P."
I didn't mean to say it; I wasn't even trying, wasn't thinking.
It used to be that he never interrupted me, was never this insane level of talkative- except on the days where he was trying his hardest to reason with me while I was working. All of that inane chatter coming out of Papyrus right now brought it back, and I wasn't thinking. Yet somehow, deep down, I also knew that if anything would make him stop talking, it was that.
So I must have been thinking, at least a little. I can say to myself that I didn't mean to call him that, even when I did it on purpose.
But this hurts a lot more than I remember it doing. Especially to see the effect in front of me.
I can't hide, I can't distract myself from it.
It's pathetic. Even after all this time I can't help but wish that those two wouldn't look at me this way. If I had chosen another path, just once, they wouldn't- and we wouldn't even be here right now. One different choice, that's all it would have taken for them to look at me without that fear or hesitation they show now. And I would be changed, too, I'm sure. Between the three of us, then, no one would ever know what I was capable of, that I was willing and able to hurt other people to serve my own goals. It'd be a blissful ignorance for me.
But, in a way, that's also wrong.
In a way, this look they are giving me is also better. No, not better, perhaps. Easier, certainly. Because, with this, I think I've hit my limit of how low I can sink today.
As the silence became prolonged, so that Asgore's voice should have been carrying over from the other room while he was talking to Frisk, neither Sans nor Papyrus moved. Papyrus especially, predictably, was frozen in place, like he might burst into tears or lose control if he made a move to acknowledge the old "name" of his, suspended before his face. Sans looked more like he did in the Inner Core- or in their first meeting in the void, as Gaster recalled- those times before he started attacking him. He was motionless for his brother's sake more than anything.
But over the seconds, Gaster went through a few changes. His own shock at the words he had said faded, his gaze turning inward instead. Unable to keep himself from trembling, however easily it could have been overlooked to the observer, he squared his shoulders and turned his gaze back outwards. At Sans and Papyrus. It might be that no one was talking even now because no one was breathing; Gaster was the first to exhale.
And he spoke, again without signing, "Well. I think we've established why this won't work."
It wasn't serious, but it wasn't a joke either. Papyrus was next to start thawing at the words, with Sans following with a look towards his brother. Definitely, neither of them were even pretending to smile now. Well, Sans was, but he also wasn't.
But, even unfrozen, they still didn't reply. Gaster was only one with even a vague idea what to say, and perhaps it was that the two recognized that. Or, maybe they were both still struggling to move past the memories he dredged up. He wished he could stop. That they would stop.
It wasn't going to happen. "What you're both feeling right now won't go away," he continued. "No matter how much I- or you," he glanced quickly at Papyrus, who trembled. "-Might want it to."
They knew this better than anyone else involved. They knew better than Asgore, better than Toriel, better than Alphys, and better than the human what kind of person he could be. So after seeing that, how could he possibly expect them to see him as anything else? They'd panic if he so much as picked up a power tool. Gaster found himself gripping his arms, not looking at them with his one good eye. "Since small talk won't make that any less true, let me say this much. I am n-." Breathe. "Never going to hurt either of you again.
"My experiments with you two were... mistakes, I've realized that now." Breathe. "And despite Asgore and that human's effort, I have no intention of interfering in the lives you have currently, either. So in the future... I think it would be easier for the both of you to ignore that I exist. Since," he couldn't help but add, "Unfortunately, I do again."
Sans for the moment looked at a loss for words, although surely if he had any he would have said "sounds good to me." But tugging mindlessly on the edge his glove, Papyrus suddenly burst out, "BUT! I DON'T WANT TO JUST IGNORE THAT YOU EXIST! I JUST WANT TO GET PAST- WHATEVER THIS IS!" He shuddered, but only once, when he looked at his hands. "AND I ALREADY FORGAVE YOU! BECAUSE WE'RE FRIENDS NOW, AREN'T WE?"
Gaster sighed, "You don't want me for a friend. The only reason you 'forgave' me is because you've overlooked everything that's happened."
"NO! THE REASON I FORGAVE YOU IS BECAUSE I WANTED TO!" Papyrus cut in, and Gaster again froze. "I DIDN'T OVERLOOK ANYTHING, I SWEAR!"
He took a deep breath, and then kept going, "I SAW YOU HESITATE ALL THOSE MOMENTS WHEN YOU DIDN'T WANT TO HURT US, LIKE WHEN YOU PUT OUR PLATES ON AND I SAW YOU FLINCH A BUNCH OF TIMES! AND I SAW ALL THOSE DAYS WHEN YOU DIDN'T TAKE US AWAY OR DO ANYTHING TO US! I REMEMBER WHEN YOU TOLD ME THAT YOU BLINDED SANS BY MISTAKE, AND YOU WERE CAREFUL NOT TO BLIND ME TOO! I HEARD YOU PROMISE TO GIVE ME THE COLOR CUBE WHEN I WAS UPSET-"
Again with the color cube; once more, Gaster had started to tremble.
"I EVEN REMEMBER WHEN YOU HELPED ME GET MY ARM BACK ON, AND FRISK TOLD ME HOW YOU DIDN'T KILL THEM BECAUSE THEY'RE OUR FRIEND! AND I REMEMBER HOW YOU ALWAYS TOLD ME THAT YOU WERE DOING THOSE TERRIBLE THINGS BECAUSE PEOPLE NEEDED YOU TO!" Triumphantly, although a little less so when he gazed back at Gaster again, Papyrus finished just a little bit quieter, "YOU SEE? I DIDN'T OVERLOOK ANYTHING! NYEH-heh. ...Th-THERE IS A LOT MORE, TOO, IF YOU WANT ME TO KEEP GOING."
He didn't move, except for the shaking. "No. Stop."
So Papyrus stopped, clenching his hands into nervous fists. Sans beside him kept making small darting glances towards his brother; when Gaster made eye contact with him, as if demanding that he do something to put some sense in this idiot's head, he grinned bitterly at his creator. "yeah, uh, i can see how i'd be your best bet, but you're outta luck. i'm just here for moral support."
Papyrus smiled at Sans and then at Gaster; Gaster, in turn, shrank back and shook his head. "I... don't..."
The smile faded a little, but all the same this other skeleton extended his hand. "I-IT'S ALRIGHT IF YOU'RE NOT REALLY GOOD AT IT- AFTER ALL, I'M AN EXCELLENT BEST FRIEND! I CAN TEACH YOU HOW TO STOP DOING THE CREEPY SCIENTIST THING!"
"That's not- you're not-" Gaster cut himself off with a sigh, and despite the expectation on Papyrus' face he just stared at that hand.
But Sans piped up again, and he flinched, "you might as well take it, bud, he's not gonna give up."
Finally, at the very end he did take it. Papyrus was completely ecstatic, once more, even at something so simple as a handshake.
"No, I suppose not. You two don't ever change."
"What do you think he just said?" Asgore asked in a voice so quiet that Frisk had to strain to hear, when Gaster's outburst was followed by stillness.
Sans and Papyrus weren't talking anymore, that was for certain. "Something bad," she whispered back.
Across from her, she heard the king sigh heavily. "I think you're right."
Frisk drooped her head down and let the steam of her tea warm her cold face. This was not going very well. She hadn't really expected it to, but she at least wanted to be able to understand where it went wrong. For next time, if nothing else. She looked over at Asgore, who was tapping his furry fingers on the table silently.
She picked at her cup and took a gulp. Some seconds passed, in which there was still silence from the other room. Some more passed that felt more like hours, and then they heard Gaster's wingding speech and nothing else. It didn't sound very good either, and there were a lot of pauses in-between sentences. Frisk tapped her fingers together and took another gulp of the tea. She almost choked when, off guard this time, it nearly burned her tongue.
By the time the child was done quietly ghhhing her throat, her narrow eyes aimed towards the boss monster in front of her. "You've been really nice."
"I, uh, thank you."
She shook her head, "I was kind of thinking you would be as mad as Toriel, as mom was. Like, really mad." Another ghh to clear her throat. "But you've just been really nice. Even though... um, and I think it's... helped... a little..." Her words trailed, and she finished only faintly, "Um, so, thanks back."
But as she finished Asgore shook his head, and right then he seemed very exhausted, seemed older. "It's not completely well-meaning. In part, I think I give him so much slack because I am tired. I... I could be enraged that he lied to me, over and over, and made all of us worry. That he experimented on two very nice monsters right under my nose. That he did questionable things while he was gone from existence.
"But even if I were to try that kind of rage just doesn't... come easily to me anymore." He shook his head, as if mocking himself. "I'd rather go back to the way things were, as much as possible."
The human in front of him didn't reply.
He used a moment's thought in the silence and then he said, taking up his cup, "But more than that, I've known Dr. Gaster for a very long time. Although I know he has done something unforgivable for Sans and Papyrus, he has done many good things for other monsters as well. Many hard, hard things." He looked uncomfortable as he spoke, but continued, "I believe that deep down my friend has been, and is still, a good person... Even if he does not believe it anymore. And I know that no good will come of forgetting that."
"Tor- mom is still really mad at him, though." Frisk mumbled into the table.
When she looked up again, she saw the king smile gently at her while he sipped his tea, "If she no longer wants him gone for good, then she must already agree with me. Even if she is not as quick to forgive him personally. But after all, when hurting children are involved, that's the kind of woman she is."
"She's not like that at home." Indeed, with her Toriel was very patient. The only reason Frisk could imagine her otherwise was because she witnessed it in person some precious few times.
"No," Asgore laughed, "I imagine not."
"I wish everyone could just be friends. I wish Sans and Papyrus would go back to the way they were, too."
As Frisk rested her head on the table, Asgore kindly did the same. "I fear that that is a tall order, child. You can't change someone's feelings with willpower."
"...But I want to."
In the next moment, she felt his large and warm paw running over her head, smoothing her hair. The gesture was almost too much, and she blinked heavily. "You sound much like my child did whenever they got upset." When Frisk stiffened at that, he added, "I'm sure that things will get better for them. It just means having patience, and perhaps some persistence. I think you of all people would be good at that."
The girl didn't reply, except to sigh and close her eyes.
They easily heard Papyrus shouting in the other room. Both Asgore and Frisk sat at attention then, sitting up in their chairs to listen. It was in wingding, too. Maybe none of them wanted the two to listen in anymore, which was extremely disappointing.
But it didn't sound like an argument, at least. The shouting was Papyrus' normal level of volume, and after a while there came talking from the other two as well, all at normal volumes. So it was a discussion, even though they couldn't hear what was being said.
And, at least, when Frisk and Asgore risked coming back in, pretending as though they had been talking about something important and unrelated, none of them had killed each other.
Author's Note: I didn't include a lot of Gaster's interactions with Sans and Papyrus in the fic proper (as someone pointed out in a review.) While I did want to explore their relationship in more depth, I'll be honest in saying that it's really hard to write this kind of thing, as you can probably tell by reading it 0 0. I STILL TRIED THOUGH IDK. ;w;
That aside there's a lot of other dialogue in this that I've had written down for a while, but I had no idea what to put it in. Glad it finally got some use!
I also wanted to say that I've decided to put these aftermath shorts (some parts revised) in their own one-shot series on Archive of Our Own, which will include other Handplates stuff too eventually, so feel free to check that out!
